MRL match week 1 review.

19 February 2019 – The match week 1 on 2019 Malaysia Rugby League fulfilled the pre-tournament expectation. Top-seeded teams such as 2017 champion, Keris Conlay and Mersing Eagles recorded their first win in the opening round of the Premier Division. Poly MAS Hornets demolished their opponent in Division 1, sending a warning to the other teams that they are the team to look for on the second their.

Fiji power proved to be the difference as Keris Conlay overcame Serdang Angels in their opening games. Etonia Saukuru scored 2 tries while Etonia Maukatoga, Amin Jamaluddin and Ashraf Kamaruddin contributed one each. 2017 AirAsia MRL tournament best player, Fairuz Abdul Rahman used all his experience to complete all 5 conversions as well as an outstanding dropkick 7 minutes from full time to contributed 13 points to his team. Conlay overcame Angels 38 – 24.

UiTM Lions grabbed the top spot in Group A with 43 – 15 win over SSTMI Tsunami. The scoreline somehow does not reflect the intensity of the game as young Tsunami fight throughout the whole 80 minutes. Are Monoka scored the hat-trick as his power and speed proved to be too much.

The best game on Premier came in the second day as Mersing Eagles late surged saw them overcame NS Wanderers. Both teams went toe to toe in the opening encounter with their kicker, Amirul Aqil Kamsol (NSW) and Jahanghir Khan (ME) completed a total of 5 penalty in the first 20 minutes of the game. Wanderers lead 16 – 13 at the end of half-time. Eagles managed to get the edge as they made the right call on their substitution. Nas Affie, Edzuan Manan and Haikal Ibrahim, all with national team experience, came in and helped the Eagles to win the match, 38 – 26.

Poly MAS Hornets is just too strong

Poly MAS Hornets recorded the biggest win of the tournament so far. They trashed the 2017 Division 1 champion, Silver Gaurus 80 – 3 to take the lead in their group. The other match in the group saw Blackhawk got better of KL Tigers with 24 – 7 scoreline.

Polis Bersatu claimed the top spot in Division 1 pool B. Their 43 – 17 win over Edwardian Tigers from Perak put them on top. COBRA Development and ATM JLJ were equally strong as their match ended with 19 – 19 draw scoreline.

You can watch all the 2019 Malaysia Rugby League Premier live by subscribing to rotv.ragbionline.com .